How to Feed and Weed Your Collection | Weeding Guidelines

Things We've Dug Up While Weeding | Reader Comments

Why Weed Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare lived and wrote some 400 years ago in England, but his many works live on in school library media centers worldwide. Many of those titles by and about Shakespeare are physically old and unattractive, a shame since the publishing industry releases wonderful new titles each year. Update your collection and spark a new interest in Shakespeare!

Suggested Dewey Numbers to Check:

Almost all of your works by Shakespeare will be in the 822.3s--his own Dewey classification number under English drama! There may be some biographies in that section. Your AV collection and reference should also be checked.

Specific Criteria for Weeding:

First look at the appearance and physical condition of your titles in the 822.3s. Worn-out titles should be replaced by newer editions (if available) or new titles. For those older titles that are still in good shape but donít appear to be circulating, decide if it is the presentation or the subject matter that is keeping it on the shelf. If it is the appearance, discard and find a replacement. If it is both appearance and topic, just discard. But check with your English teachers before removing these titles from your collection to be sure you won't be caught short for an upcoming classroom assignment. If you have the funds to replace several titles, consult with your teachers to determine what they need and then invite them to explore and share the new titles when they arrive.

Don't consult or debate, just discard any filmstrip or old videorecording. Replace with new titles that have received positive reviews. Consider experimenting with downloadable audio for this iPod generation!

Controversies over the life and writings of Shakespeare have been around for years. If you stock any of these titles, keep only the most recent. The others are old news easily displaced by the popular press and Internet.

Consider Weeding Titles Like These:

• An approach to Shakespeare, 1969.
• An authenticated contemporary portrait of Shakespeare, 1932.
• The case for Shakespeare's authorship of the famous victories, 1961.
• Character and motive in Shakespeare : some recent appraisals examined, 1966.
• Commentaries on the law in Shakespeare : with explanations of the legal terms used in the plays, poems and sonnets and a consideration of the criminal types presented, also a full discussion of the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy, c1913.
• The design within; psychoanalytic approaches to Shakespeare, 1970.
• Directing Shakespeare in the contemporary theatre, 1974.
• The genius of Shakespeare Series 1. [filmstrip], 1969.
• Life in Elizabethan times [filmstrip], 1958.
• Multi-media Shakespeare [filmstrip], c1971.
• A new and complete concordance or verbal index to words, phrases, & passages in the dramatic works of Shakespeare, with a supplementary concordance to the poems, 1972.
• A new companion to Shakespeare studies, 1971.
• Presenting William Shakespeare [filmstrip] and [videorecording], c1975.
• Recent discoveries relating to the life and works of William Shakespeare, 1973.
• Selected Shakespearean tragedies : plots and analyses. [filmstrip],1965.
• Shakespeare : a mirror to man [filmstrip] and [videorecording], 1969.
• Shakespeare and his rivals; a casebook on the authorship controversy, [1962].
• The Shakespeare claimants; a critical survey of the four principal theories concerning the authorship of the Shakespearean plays, [c1962].
• Shakespeare, contemporary critical approaches, c1980.
• Shakespeare : mirror of man [filmstrip], 1969.
• Shakespeare : modern essays in criticism, 1967.
• Shakespeare's plays today; some customs and conventions of the stage, [1971].
• Understanding Shakespeare, 1962.
• Was Shakespeare Shakespeare? : A lawyer reviews the evidence, 1965.
• Wasn't Shakespeare someone else? New evidence in the very words of the bard himself about his true identity, 1971.
• Who was Shakespeare? : The man, the times, the works, 1974.